At the end of the day we were broken up into small groups to
visit individual properties in Tuscany. We had a long, very long, drive to
visit Fattoria Felsina in Castelnuovo Berardegna and it was worth it.
About Me
- DermotMW
- Dublin, Ireland
- Hi, I'm Dermot Nolan, and I became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997, and resigned from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 after being an MW for exactly 26 years. I opened a wine shop in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, called The Wine Library, which closed in 2018, and this is my personal wine blog. I will do my utmost to be fair and responsible in my posts – please read my Who Pays article in re the ethics of wine trips and writing. I have worked in wine education, retail, and consultancy since 1990. I was a Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) from 2008 to 2014 and was also a member of the Events Committee, founder of the Trips Committee, and member of the Governance Committee. Having had problems with potentially libellous comments from unidentifiable posters, I now require that if you post a comment, you must identify yourself properly or it won't be published. Please note that I do not review products or services on request so kindly don't ask. I value my independence and I believe my readers (few that they may be) do so also.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
From past to future via the present…
The next three sessions covered a huge range of topics. The
first, moderated by David Gleave MW covered the changes in Italy over the past
60 years. Marchese Piero Antinori started by giving us the background to the
revolution which occurred in the 1960s and ‘70s (largely due to his pioneering
spirit). Alberto Tasca d’Almerita and Maurizio Zanelli explained how changes have
occurred in Sicily and Franciacorta respectively. The latter region is only
about 50 years old, even wine has been made there for centuries (by the way,
Piero let slip the first night that his family had been living in Florence for
only 900 years so we were getting a really broad perspective). Gaia Gaja then
gave an excellent viewpoint on how to move forward, based on her father’s
determination to change the perception of Piemontese wines.
The next session was geek heaven (I was happy!) as it was
about wine research. Some of the best wine researchers in the world gave an
overview of their work – Peter Godden of the Australian Wine Research Institute
(AWRI) (and also ace nebbiolo producer); Hildegard Heymann of University of
California Davis (UCD) and a long-time friend; Hans-Reiner Schultz of Geisenheim University, who has taught a number of Irish students; and Cesare
Intrieri, Professor of Viticulture at the University of Bologna). The subjects
are too technical to cover but there is a remarkable degree of work being done
on a huge range of topics.
The final session of the day covered aspects of wine
business with an impressive panel comprised of Christian Seeley of AXA
Millesimes, Rajeev Samant of Sula Vineyards in India, Rowald Hepp from Schloss
Vollrads and Oscar Farinetti of Eataly. Again, time constraints meant we barely
got into the meat of the discussion but overall it was thought-provoking.
A new world of wine
Session 2 opened Friday’s programme, exceptionally well
moderated by John Hoskins MW, took up the topic of climate change and how it
affects the world of wine. The panel consisted of Prof. Greg Jones, a
climatologist and winemaker from Oregon, Dr José Voillamoz, a geneticist and
one third of J3 (the authors of Wine Grapes – Jancis Robinson MW and Julia
Harding MW being the other two-thirds), Christophe Salin, President of Domaines
Baron de Rothschild (Lafite) and Frank Cornelissen a winemaker on Etna.
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